Volkswagen agrees on hike pay of workers in its German plants

VW head negotiator Martin Rosik and IG Metall labour boss Hartmut Meine are to present details of the deal at a news conference in Hanover, Germany, at 10.00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT).Reuters | May 20, 2016, 14:41 IST

HAMBURG: Volkswagen and Germany's powerful IG Metall labour union have agreed a pay increase for around 120,000 workers at the car maker's western German plants, the union said on Friday, without providing further details.

VW head negotiator Martin Rosik and IG Metall labour boss Hartmut Meine are to present details of the deal at a news conference in Hanover, Germany, at 10.00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT).

IG Metall had sought a 5 percent pay rise over 12 months for the workers at VW, which last month reported a 4.1 billion euro ($4.6 billion) operating loss for 2015 due to huge provisions to cover the cost of an emissions test-rigging scandal.

The union, Germany's biggest, is a trend-setter in national wage bargaining and represents employees at all of Germany's major car makers as well as in manufacturing, industrial production and steel making. This month it won a 4.8 percent raise over 21 months for 3.8 million German workers.